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Cooke and Wheatstone's double needle telegraph, 1844

Telecommunications

1844

Cooke and Wheatstone's double needle telegraph, invented by Sir William Fothergill Cooke and Sir Charles Wheatstone, and made by William Reid, London, England, 1844. This is the instrument used to send the message which identified John Tawell as a murder suspect on 1 January 1845. It was located at Slough station, Great Western Railway.

Joseph Lister

1827 - 1912

1827-1912, surgeon; physician; developer of a system of antiseptic surgery, English; British

Caricature showing a publican's dilemma during a cholera epidemic, Europe, c. 1854

.Unattributed

c.1854

Print. lithograph, some col, caricaturing precautions in a cholera epidemic [c1840-1865]. 1. 'Fearing the spread of the cholera' (gin drinkers beware, publican's dilemma), image 10x7cm edged to 12x9cm. Framed with /2 and /3, 52x21x2cm

William Thomson's marine mirror galvanometer, 1850-1900

Telecommunications

1854

William Thomson's marine mirror galvanometer, made by Siemens and Halske, Berlin, Germany, 1850-1900.

model steam, crewe type locomotive

Railway Models

1846

Model steam locomotive, 1/16 scale, Grand Junction Railway `Crewe Goods' 2-4-0, prototype built 1846.

Slotting machine, made by Sharp Roberts and Co.

Hand and Machine Tools

1835

Slotting machine, made by Sharp Roberts and Co., Manchester, 1835. Constructed from cast iron on sort of arched frame design. Table with cross and front to back movements placed in middle with slotting arm above it. Three stepped pulley and hand wheel on drive cross shaft to gears on left with a secondary shaft working the slotting arm. Operating arms are missing from the cam to the rachet levers.

Type used for original morse telegraph, 1835

Telecommunications

1835

Type used for original morse telegraph, unknown maker, United States, 1835

Album of cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns

Photographs

1853

Album of cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns, made and assembled by Anna Atkins and Anne Dixon for presentation to `CSA' (unknown), 1853

4-wheeled hand crane

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

1850

Railway crane, Great Northern Railway, 4-wheeled hand crane, No 112, (LNER 942052), 1850.

'The British Nave' at the Great Exhibition of 1851

Art

1851

Print. Chromolithograph, 'The British Nave', Plate 3 (Proof) of a set of four large prints commemorating the Opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851, [after paintings by Joseph Nash]. Printed and published by Dickinson Brothers, New Bond Street. [1851]. Image 54.5x75cm on card 71x88cm. Signed Joseph Nash in ink on lower left edge of image. View of the Western or British Nave looking East, with long panorama of structure and layout of main avenue. In centre above horse's head is dioptric revolving lighthouse reflector mechanism by Chance Brothers & Co; then Seeley fountain; large Ross telescope; Coalbrookdale Dome. Large case on foreground left with model of Liverpool docks, beside cotton and beneath Philosophical and electric displays. Banners hang from balconies with arms of cities of Britain: York is nearest on right. Queen Victoria with Prince Albert and family are being escorted through on tour; guests and visitors stand watching and waiting. In frame, 84x100x2cm

Eclipse

Railway Models

1841

Model steam locomotive, approx. 1/10 scale, live steam for table-top operation, 2-2-2 inside-cylinder type, brass, named `Eclipse', built by John Turner, Hyde, 1841

Whale oil lamp, c 1840.

Lighting

1835-1845

Whale oil pewter lamp, candlestick form, c.1840

Epergne presented to Robert Stephenson

Miscellanea & Curiosities

1839

Epergne, silver, designed and manufactured by Mr B Smith of Duke Steet, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, presented to Robert Stephenson, 16th November 1839.

Micrometer type mechanical comparator

Industrial Metrology

1855

Whitworth millionth measuring machine in a case for comparing components against standard inch bars; made in 1855.

Oersted Compass Needle, 1828

Science Teaching

1828

Ørsted's [Oersted] apparatus for showing the effect of an electric current on a magnetic needle, believed to have been supplied for £1-8-0 by Watkins and Hill, Charing Cross, Westminster, 1828.

Entrance into Manchester across Water Street

Thomas Talbot Bury

1831

Print. Aquatint, coloured. 'Entrance into Manchester across Water Street'. T T Bury. delt; H. Pyall. sculpt. - 'Plate 6' of Views on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. - London, Published Feby 1831 by R Ackermann, 96 Strand. image 19.8x25cm on sheet 23.5x27.5cm. In frame 41x44x2cm

Caricature of an undertaker hoping for cholera, Europe, c. 1854

.Unattributed

c.1854

Print. lithograph, some col, caricaturing precautions in a cholera epidemic [c1840-1865]. 3. 'Hoping for the spread of the cholera' (a gleeful undertaker, in hat, news reports of deaths), image 10x7cm edged to 12x9cm. Framed together with /1, /2, 52x21x2cm

Specimen of Dover-Calais telegraph cable, 1851

Telecommunications

1851

Specimen of Dover to Calais telegraph cable showing corrosion, made by R S Newall and Company, Millwall, London, England, 1851

Portion of the first submarine cable between Dover and Calais, 1850

Telecommunications

1850

Portion of the first submarine cable laid between Dover and Calais, made by the Gutta Percha Company, Islington, London, England, 1850.

Schwann's microscope

Microscopes

1835

Schwann's microscope (no case), with accessories

Wax portrait of Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780 – 1854)

Clockmakers

1851

Wax portrait of Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854) by Richard Cockle Lucas 1851

Wheatstone ABC telegraph receiver, 1942

Telecommunications

1842

ABC telegraph receiver, invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone, unknown maker, England, 1842

Compound monocular microscope

Public Health & Hygiene

1852

Compound monocular microscope owned by Edwin Lankester and purchased from the makers Smith & Beck of London in 1852, with accessories and case. Possibly used by Lankester when examining water from the pump at Broad St, Soho, the focus of the outbreak of cholera in London in 1854.

Two lancets in a patterned silver case

Therapeutics

1844

Two lancets, steel blade in tortoiseshell sheath, by Savigny and Co. of London, 1810-1850, in silver case, inscribed "R.G.," made in Birmingham in 1844

Tobacco box - made from a piece of roman lead pipe

Miscellanea & Curiosities

1854

Tobacco box, made from a piece of lead pipe found in Roman remains in Old Broad Street, North London Railway. Presented to H. Jones by his friend Jn Johnson in October 1854. Brass inscription on lid.

Silver snuff boxes, United Kingdom, presented in 1832 and 1850

Smoking

1832

Snuff container presented to Robert Fortescue for work during the cholera epidemic in Plymouth, by Mills of Birmingham, silver partly gilt, 1832

Henley's magneto electric double needle telegraph, 1848-1852

Telecommunications

1848-1852

Henley's magneto electric double needle telegraph, made by the Magnetic Telegraph Company, England, 1848-1852.

Cooke and Wheatstone's ABC telegraph transmitter

Telecommunications

1840

Cooke and Wheatstone's ABC telegraph transmitter, unknown maker, England, 1840

Insulators used for Morse's telegraph, 1835

Telecommunications

1835

Insulators used for Morse's telegraph, unknown maker, United States, 1835

model manchester & leeds railway carriage

Railway Models

1839

Model railway carriage, scale 1:8, Manchester & Leeds Railway (Lancashire & Yorkshire) third class open passenger, 1839.

Sample of submarine cable laid between Dover and Calais, 1850

Telecommunications

1850

Short length (including a joint) of the original Cross-Channel submarine telegraph cable laid on 28th August 1850 between Dover and Calais. Cable originally made by Gutta Percha Company, Islington, London, England, 1850.

Arthington Tunnel memorial plaque, 1849

Railway Infrastructure

1849

Memorial plaque, stone, to commemorate those killed during the construction of the Arthington (Bramhope) Tunnel, Leeds & Thirsk Railway, 1845-1849, erected by James Bray, Contractor, 1849, from Otley churchyard.

The Great Exhibition Polka 1851

Art

1851

Lithograph, colour: The Great Exhibition Polka 1851, for the pianoforte, composed and dedicated to HRH Prince Albert by Frank B Tussaud. Printed by Stannard & Dixon, issued by Duff & Hodgson, London [1851]. Sheet music cover with picture of Crystal Palace exterior and visitors. 34.5x24cm.

Octant made of ebony and brass

Navigation

1830-1835

Octant made by John Smith, London, about 1830. Ebony frame and limb with brass index arm and fittings; an inlaid ivory plate on the crossbar. Signed on the plate on the crossbar: J. SMITH 126 Wapping LONDON. Radius 9 inches. Inlaid ivory scale from -3° to 96°, every 20'. Ivory vernier to 1', zero at the right. The tangent screw and clamping screw are on the back of the index arm. Three shades (two red, one green); three horizon shades (two red, one green). Index-glass adjustment by screw; adjustment of the horizon glass by a fixed screw and a lever, worm gear and a milled clamping screw. The sight vane is lacking. No box. (B 696)

Single needle telegraph, 1846

Telecommunications

1846

Single needle telegraph, made by William Reid for the Electric Telegraph Company, London, England, 1846

Cooke and Wheatstone's A.B.C. Telegraph Receiver, 1839-1840

Telecommunications

1839-1840

Cooke and Wheatstone's A.B.C. Telegraph Receiver, probably made by Sir William Cooke, England, 1839-1840. Only known example of this type of telegraph pointer. Knob for rotating the dial has been broken off.

Bright's bell telegraph, 1855

Telecommunications

1855

Bright's bell telegraph, unknown maker, England, 1855

windsor mantle clock

Railway Timepieces

1845-1855

Clock, mantle, Great Western Railway, No 3355, from Royal Waiting Room, Windsor and Eton Station, pendulum movement, by Cole of London, c.1850. Elephants on side panels. Serial no inside - '31925CHVCNE'. Overall: 630 mm x 340 mm x 210 mm.

Cooke and Wheatstone double needle telegraph, 1844

Telecommunications

1844

Cooke and Wheatstone's double needle telegraph, invented by Sir William Fothergill Cooke (1806-1879) and Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875), and made by William Reid, London, England, 1844. This instrument was installed at Paddington when the experimental telegraph was extended to Slough in 1843. On January 1, 1845 the Slough instrument sent a message to Paddington which enabled the identification and arrest of an alleged murderer.

Signal lamp, Stockton & Darlington Railway

Signalling & Telecommunications

1840

Signal lamp, Stockton & Darlington Railway, No. 1, red and green aspects, 1840, designed by T. Summerson and W. Russell, from Croft Branch, earliest used on S&DR.

Shoulder papier-mache doll accompanying English wo

Materials Science Gallery

c. 1840

Shoulder papier-mache doll accompanying English wooden doll.Circa 1840, with leather body, wooden lower limbs in original dress.

Lucien Sharpe sheet metal gauge

Industrial Metrology

c. 1850

Lucien Sharpe micrometer, c. 1850, steel, plain screw-sleeve type, (without rachet feel), reading up to 30mm by 0.01mm

Dandy cart and horse

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

1845-1855

Dandy Cart and Horse, mid 19th century dandy cart, with (model) horse riding in it.

Grand Junction Railway locomotive 'Columbine'

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

1845

Steam locomotive and tender, Grand Junction Railway, (London & North Western Railway), 2-2-2 No 49, "Columbine", designed by Alexander Allen, built at Crewe Works in 1845, withdrawn in 1902, cab separated from locomotive.

Steam locomotive, entitled Cornwall

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

1847

Steam locomotive and tender, London & North Western Railway, 2-2-2 No 3020 "Cornwall", designed by Trevithick, built at Crewe in 1847, withdrawn in 1927 and components.

Windows From Inside South Gallery, Lacock Abbey

Photographs

1835-08

Earliest paper photograph in existence dated August 1835. ' Windows from inside South Gallery, Lacock Abbey' , (made with the camera obscura), by William Henry Fox Talbot.

Model of Grand Junction Railway locomotive "Wildfire", 1839

Railway Models

1839

Model steam locomotive, approx. 1/10 scale, Grand Junction Railway 2-2-2 No.8 `Wildfire', prototype built 1837, model built by John Stagg of Birmingham in 1839.

Plato

James Hall Nasmyth

1844

One of six sketches in crayon by James Nasmyth showing the lunar crater Plato, dated November 18th 1844.

Bell from Liverpool Road Station, Manchester

Liverpool & Manchester Railway

c. 1831

Bell from Liverpool Road Station, Manchester, c. 1831.

Portable double-needle telegraph and test set, 1850

Telecommunications

1850

Portable double-needle telegraph and test set, with removable wooden cover, unknown maker, possibly British, 1850